American (5-4) began slowly, as Youngstown State (2-5) played from ahead in the early going. The Penguins held as much as a five-point lead on two different occasions midway though the half, the latter coming at 14-9 with 7:51 remaining. A jumper by Tori Halvorsen got the Eagles on track, and that was followed by a Dobbs three -- her second of the game -- to square the score at 14.

With AU trailing 17-16, the Eagles ran off a 9-0 run late in the period to take control of the game. The spurt began with a pair of Stephanie Anya free throws and was followed by buckets from Anya, Ashley Yencho and Nicole Ryan.

 
The Eagles took a 27-22 lead into halftime, and a three by Strack to begin the second half extended the margin to eight. Leer followed with a jumper moments later to give AU its first double-digit advantage, 32-22, at the 16:43 mark. The Eagles continued to apply the pressure, as a pair of Ryan trifectas surrounding a Halvorsen jumper culminated a 14-2 run for American to begin the half.

 
Facing a 17-point deficit, the Penguins began chipping away at the margin, as they cut AU's lead to 10, 46-36, with 4:22 to go. But a Dobbs three from the corner off a Liz Leer feed propelled the Eagles to a 7-0 run putting the game out of reach. On the spurt, Anya followed with back-to-back buckets, which helped set the final margin at 57-41 in favor of American.

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In addition to Dobbs' 14 points, Ryan chipped in nine on three makes from beyond-the-arc. Her first three -- which came with 4:13 remaining in the first half -- set the new program record for career three-pointers. The senior now has 163 threes in her career, breaking the previous mark of 160 held by Talicia Jackson '09.

 
The Eagles held Youngstown State to 24.6 percent in the game, including only 19.4 percent (6-31) in the second half. The Penguins' leading scorer, Brandi Brown, who came into Saturday's game averaging 19.5 points per game, was held scoreless by American. Brown was 0-9 from the field.

 
"To hold someone well under their average -- or to not give her any points in this case -- is a result of our kids doing a nice job of understanding what she wanted to do and being able to take that away," commented Head Coach Matt Corkery.

 

AU also took care of the basketball, committing a season-low eight turnovers while shooting 35.7 percent from the floor in the game.

"It's really nice to be home after playing our first seven on the road," added Corkery. "I think we're a team that is figuring some things out, trying to figure out our roles. I think we're still a work in progress and hopefully we'll hit our stride by January."

The Eagles will have the next two weeks off for final exams before returning to action on Saturday, December 18 against local-rival George Washington. Tip-time from Bender Arena is scheduled for 2 p.m., and the game can be watched live on Eagles Vision TV, part of AUeagles.com.